


The Spiral- a short Unus Annus story

by Bara_H



Category: Unus Annus - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:40:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28881864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bara_H/pseuds/Bara_H
Summary: Mark was pulled into the machine. Is Ethan there as well? Is he safe?*Story inspired by “The truth of Unus Annus” video*
Kudos: 5





	The Spiral- a short Unus Annus story

Endless spiral all around me. It must have been just a few hours but it feels like eternity. Does time even work the same around here? Who knows… maybe not even a day passed above- above, in the real world. Huh real world, is that what I am calling it? I guess, but if that is real where am I now? I am not dreaming, I can’t be dead- I think- and this definitely isn’t the same place where I was a few hours ago. Where am I? In the machine! That’s where I am, that is certain, but that still doesn’t mean I can’t be somewhere else as well. For all I know the stupid coffin can work just as an entrance to another universe which we naively call “The Machine”. Where am I? I would love to say I am in the middle of nowhere but even that isn’t true! I am not in the middle! I am just nowhere! Absolutely nowhere! 

How could it all go so bad? We had everything in control didn’t we? Didn’t we? Sure we did! At the beginning! But then it all went to hell! How could I let that happen? The worst part is I could have prevented this! I could have, god damn it! And if nothing else I could have prevented Ethan from paying for my mistakes! I keep waking towards the nonexistent middle. A fun little channel! It was supposed to be just a fun little channel! But nah! I must always go just a little further! Always just a little more! Always further beyond! And look where that got me! Look! And sure I was tricked- tricked into the machine- but it is till my fault! All of this! My fault! Oh Ethan will never forgive me for this! I wouldn’t if I was at his place- Wherever that even is… 

No! You are not taking my friend you stupid piece of machinery! No matter what you try to do to me! I am still Mark Fishbach! And if nothing else I am going to get Ethan out of here! Somehow… 

...somehow...

Ah what am I kidding… it would be a miracle if I even found him let alone found a way to get us out of here! All of this! It is just me trying to keep my head above the water. Just a sad and lonely Mark trying to keep myself sane by assigning myself a probably pointless task without any assurance it is fulfillable! Am I doing this just because I don’t want to believe I have failed again? Probably! Have I already failed? Definitely! Can I make this right? Who the hell knows?!

I should be hungry and thirsty but the only thing I am is tired- tired and so incredibly stupid! Why did I ever think making a deal with two death gods was a good idea? I want to slow down! I want to stop for a moment and get some sleep but I am afraid that once I slow down for even a single moment I won’t be able to get back up. I have to keep going! I have to, or else I have failed yet again. And so I continue on, into the nothing in front of me, getting forever further from the nothing behind me. I wonder how Amy is doing. Does she know? Does she have a suspicion? Or is she still blissfully oblivious to the fact that her boyfriend and his friend have been replaced by dangerous entities from another dimension? What do the editors think? I hope they are not in danger too! That’s the last thing I need now- more people I put in the harm’s way! 

How long did I already walk? Who knows?! I don’t! That’s certain! How ironic I am inside of a clock! I can even hear it! Each and every second of it! I hear it! Tic. Tac. Tic. Tac. Over and over it ticks away my time. Yet I don’t know how much time I have. All I hear is the constant ticking! I feel like I am going crazy! Who knows, maybe I already am! Even if I was, there isn’t anyone to tell me is there?!

W-way- Wait a minute! Do I-? Is-is that-? No way! I gathered all the last bits of strength I had and started to run. Don’t let your hopes up Mark! Maybe you really are going crazy. You know what this place does. But it has to be! Who else would it be? Breathing heavily I ran right to the silhouette that emerged from the spiral in front of me. The closer I got the clearer it was- I found him! Against all odds I did it! I found Ethan! Still panting I stopped just a few meters in front of him. “Ethan?!” I spoke in between my breaths. But I got no answer, Ethan was sitting right in front of me, curled into a ball with his head hidden by his legs. “Ethan?” I asked this time more carefully, his behavior startled me. No answer. “Ethan it’s me, Mark!” I repeated once again. “Sure and the voice you sent last time was also you right?!” Ethan finally spoke, still not looking at me, his voice was tired, exhausted and quiet. “What? What voice?” I asked. The initial excitement was now replaced by confusion. “Oh don’t play dumb with me! Why do you keep thinking this will work?! You tried so many times before, why do you think this time I’ll believe you?” “B-but it is me, Mark! Please just look! I am right here in front of you!” I started to fear for Ethan’s sanity. “Don’t let your hopes up! Don’t let your hopes up! Don’t let your hopes up!” Ethan whispered to himself as he started to tremble. “Ethan! Please! I am right here!” I said once more but with each word Ethan just trembled more and more. Alright whatever I am doing, it is not working. I need to try this differently… but how? Damn it Ethan I am supposed to be the crying bitch baby! “Ethan just tell me what can I do to make you believe I am really here if you don’t want to look for yourself?” I asked. “Shut up!” Ethan shouted. “Just shut up and leave me alone!” Do I want to touch him and make him look? No, no I can’t, if anything I would just make him even more afraid. Startled, I accepted my defeat and sat quietly down a few meters away from Ethan, waiting for him to do something first. What happened to him? Should I be afraid for his sanity? I-I mean I already am, but should I be?! I don’t know how long we sat there like this but we did. Just the two of us… in the literal embodiment of nowhere. Finally Ethan moved his head and gave me one quick look before flinching and looking away again. I wanted to do or say something but I feared that any movement might scare him even more. Just a moment- that’s how long it took Ethan to avert his eyes back to me, he was still trembling in what I imagine was fear but in his eyes I saw disbelief and surprise. “M-Mark?” He asked shyly. “Yes! Yes, it is me Ethan! It is really me.” I spoke as calmly as I could. “What are you doing here?” He continued with the questioning. “We opened the coffin, remember?” I said. “And since then?” “I tried to find you.” I answered not fully understanding why would Ethan ask that question. “It really is you?” Ethan asked once again. “Yes! Here in the flesh.” Silence.

“What did you mean when you spoke about the voice?” Now was my time to ask questions. I didn’t want to break the silence but the tension in the air was unbearable. “From time to time I hear a voice- your voice and it keeps calling to me. Telling me that you are here but no matter how hard I look around, you are never there.” Ethan’s voice started to crack. “No matter what I do, and no matter where I go you are never there!” His voice finally broke as Ethan started to tear up. “Never there! So I decided to just close my eyes and hope it disappears soon!” He spoke between sobbs. “I don't know if it is this place messing with my head or if I am just crazy but in the end it doesn’t matter. In the end nothing really matters in here apart from your own sanity fading away slowly in front of your eyes.” “I am here now, okay? I am here and I am not going anywhere.” I tried to comfort him. “Can you please hug me?” Ethan asked suddenly, tears still filling his eyes. I stood up and walked closer to him, carefully, as if I risked breaking something fragile in the process, he was almost still, his eyes looking at me through the layer of the salty tears. I closed the gap between us and finally embraced Ethan in a long and tight hug. I really cannot tell who needed it more. Was it the trembling Ethan or the exhausted me? I don’t know but at the moment it didn’t matter.

“Are we going to die here?” Ethan broke the silence, he was still terrified. “No-“ I tried to console him but he cut me off. “Don’t lie to me Mark! Are we going to die here?” Ethan saw right through me. He broke free from the hug. “I-I don’t know.” I said, now truthfully even though the sentence was breaking my heart. It was me who caused this! And it was my place to find a way out of here, not Ethan’s! Heck he wasn’t even supposed to end up here in the first place! “B-but we have a whole year to figure something out! I promise I will do anything in my power to get you out of here!” “A year? What are you talking about? We have a week at best! We have one day, if that annoying prick occupying my body is telling the truth!” Ethan raised his voice both in anger and confusion. “No- No, that can’t be right! A day?!” I too was confused and fear quickly made its way back into my head. This can’t be right! “This place- it plays tricks on you Mark… time and space lose meaning here. Left can be right, right can be left, down can be up and up can be down. There is no floor under us nor a ceiling above us. There is just the never ending spiral and nothing more… and on top of that, it literally sucks energy out of you probably to fuel the machine- you probably experienced that. I have been here for a long time- probably way longer than you. And if Unus is telling the truth then in our actual world we have a day before the timer hits zero-” How long have you been here Ethan?! How long have I been here? Do we really have just one day? No! No, No, No, No, No! That can’t be! I still have to make things right! “What to you is a day, to me is a month and all of it is completely different from the outside world anyways so it doesn’t matter!” Ethan’s voice was just a little too calm given the situation. I must say it scared me. “And for every real-world day that flies by, that stupid idiot above comes down and tells me ‘Hey! You wasted another day!’ In the most uplifting way possible so it makes you go even more crazy!” Here Ethan’s voice finally revealed the full power of his despair and fear that until now I could just guess was still inside of him. This however wasn’t really time for in-depth analysis of Ethan’s feelings. “Wait… wait… wait… by the stupid idiot you mean Unus? He has visited you?” If anything this was time to get the hell out of here and even for that it was probably too late. Time… funny that time is what we need. We are in a place that doesn’t follow the rules of physics and yet we are fighting for time! We are in a place that literally screams ‘Time is a social construct!’ on top of its lungs yet time is the only thing we need more than anything right now. I want to laugh at the irony of it but my mouth is sealed shut unable to say a word. “Of course he has visited me! Always with his black little suit, and a body that belongs to ME!” A short pause. “Do you want to tell me that mister Annus up there didn’t come to you at least once to remind you just how much time you have until you DIE?!” Ethan asked, spitting the name Annus in a mocking tone from his mouth. What he said must have been a rethorical question because he didn’t even give me time to answer. Of course he didn’t… Of course! Or else you would’ve known that we don’t have a whole year but one mere day!” Ethan said almost in one breath. “I-I-“ I wanted to say something- anything- but there was nothing I could say to make the situation better. There was noth I could do! And this feeling of hopelessness enveloped me until I couldn’t think about anything else. 

Something suddenly caught Ethan’s eye as he stopped in his angry rant and looked behind me. “Speak of the devils!” He shouted angrily, waking me from my despair and making me look his way. Indeed I immediately saw and recognized two figures standing in front of us. Unus in black, Annus in white, both with bodies that once belonged to me and Ethan. In fact they would be exact copies of us if it wasn’t for the skulls sitting where the head should be. Perfectly still, they stood there, in their classic postures and with their palms forming the notorious triangle. “Come-” Annus said, his voice identical to mine. “-the livestream is about to begin.” Unus added.


End file.
